Reeducation Camps Research Articles

Interactions with a Violent Past: Reading Post-Conflict Landscapes in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam

The Second and Third Indochina Wars are the subject of important ongoing scholarship, but there has been little research on the lasting impact of wartime violence on local societies and populations, in Vietnam as well as in Laos and Cambodia. Today's Lao, Vietnamese and Cambodian landscapes bear the imprint of competing violent ideologies and their perilous material manifestations. From battlefields and massively bombed terrain to reeducation camps and resettled villages, the past lingers on in the physical environment. The nine essays in this volume discuss post-conflict landscapes as contested spaces imbued with memory-work conveying differing interpretations of the recent past, expressed through material (even, monumental) objects, ritual performances, and oral narratives (or silences). While Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese landscapes are filled with tenacious traces of a violent past, creating an unsolicited and malevolent sense of place among their inhabitants, they can in turn be transformed by actions of resilient and resourceful local communities.

Smoking prevalence and factors associated with smoking status among Vietnamese in California.

Vietnamese American men have smoking prevalence rates higher than the general population. We analyzed Vietnamese American smoking behavior by demographic and health-related factors, including some specific to Vietnamese, in the largest tobacco-specific survey yet targeting the Vietnamese population. Using a statewide surname probability sample and computer-assisted telephone interviewing, we surveyed 1,101 Vietnamese men and 1,078 Vietnamese women in California (63.5% participation among successfully contacted eligible individuals) in 2007-2008. We conducted multivariate regression models to analyze the association between Vietnamese male smoking status and demographic and health-related factors. Among women, <1% were current smokers and <2% were former smokers. Among men, 25% were current and 24% were former smokers. Regression models for Vietnamese men delineated factors associated with both current and former smoking (vs. never smoking): being married, being employed, having lower educational attainment, and consuming alcohol. Other factors associated with current smoking (vs. never smoking) were having no health insurance, having seen a Vietnamese doctor or no doctor visit in the past year, having Vietnamese military or Vietnamese reeducation camp experience, having less knowledge about the harms of smoking, and reporting higher depression symptoms. Increasing age and not being Buddhist were associated with former (vs. never) smoking. Smoking patterns of Vietnamese women and Vietnamese men are significantly different from the general California population. Tobacco control efforts targeting Vietnamese men should include community outreach since current smokers have low health care access, utilization, and knowledge.

Brain Structural Abnormalities and Mental Health Sequelae in South Vietnamese Ex–Political Detainees Who Survived Traumatic Head Injury and Torture

A pilot study of South Vietnamese ex-political detainees who had been incarcerated in Vietnamese reeducation camps and resettled in the United States disclosed significant mental health problems associated with torture and traumatic head injury (THI). To identify structural brain alterations associated with THI and to investigate whether these deficits are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder and depression. Cross-sectional neuroimaging study. Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital. A subsample of Vietnamese ex-political detainees (n = 42) and comparison subjects (n = 16) selected from a community study of 337 ex-political detainees and 82 comparison subjects. Scores on the Vietnamese versions of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL) and Harvard Trauma Questionnaire for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, respectively; cerebral regional cortical thickness; and manual volumetric morphometry of the amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus. Ex-political detainees exposed to THI (n = 16) showed a higher rate of depression (odds ratio, 10.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-90.0) than those without THI exposure (n = 26). Ex-political detainees with THI had thinner prefrontotemporal cortices than those without THI exposure (P < .001 by the statistical difference brain map) in the left dorsolateral prefrontal and bilateral superior temporal cortices, controlling for age, handedness, and number of trauma/torture events (left superior frontal cortex [SFC], P = .006; left middle frontal cortex, P = .01; left superior temporal cortex [STC], P = .007; right STC, P = .01). Trauma/torture events were associated with bilateral amygdala volume loss (left, P = .045; right, P = .003). Cortical thinning associated with THI in the left SFC and bilateral STC was related to HSCL depression scores in THI-exposed (vs non-THI-exposed) ex-political detainees (left SFC, P for interaction = .007; left STC, P for interaction = .03; right STC, P for interaction = .02). Structural deficits in prefrontotemporal brain regions are linked to THI exposures. These brain lesions are associated with the symptom severity of depression in Vietnamese ex-political detainees.

Genocide and survival in Pol Pot’s Cambodia

The manifold horrors of the Pol Pot regime are difficult to grasp and to disentangle, in their sequence and regional focus, and in their motives and perpetrators: The forcible evacuations, the mass murders and purposeful starvation of its own people, the genocide against national minorities, the sociocide against the intelligentsia, the upper and middle classes, the perceived supporters of the old regimes, the wanton destruction of temples, factories and modern machinery, the abolition of religion, money, private property, schools, hospitals and families, the introduction of forced labour for the entire population, including children separated from their parents, the murderous border raids against Vietnam, until the regime in internecine paranoia selfdestructed and collapsed in view of the Vietnamese lightening advance in January 1979. While in other totalitarian dictatorships and mass wars at least once in a while unexpected glimpses of humanity surfaced, there were none under Pol Pot’s rule, as those who showed any such signs of weakness were quickly denounced, arrested, tortured and killed. Of 20,000 prisoners in Pnom Penh’s Tuol Slang only seven were ever released, all others killed. There were no re-education camps in Cambodia, as suspects were eliminated, not re-educated. The three books reviewed here deal with this rule of unmitigated evil from different angles: Ben Kiernan systematically analyzes and documents the politics of terror in its sequence, territorial variations and outcomes, as well as the motives and factional struggles of the regime. This has been done in what is generally considered a classic study by now, by mass interviews with survivors, refugees and defectors, as well as by deciphering what was left as documentary evidence in archives of a highly secretive regime bent on leaving no traces. Patrick Raszlenberg focuses more on the ideological evolution and the international conflicts of the regime, essentially based on a thorough documentary analysis available publicly in widely dispersed places. Finally and most movingly, there is a survivor’s account byMalay Phcar, who as a young boy of nine, successively AEJ (2007) 5:435–441 DOI 10.1007/s10308-007-0131-5

HIV surveillance among female sex workers.

Female sex workers are at high risk for infection with HIV, and their clients may act as a bridging population by spreading HIV to the general population. Comprehensive HIV surveillance among sex workers includes surveillance of HIV infection, of sexually transmitted infections and of risk behavior. Surveillance of HIV infection among sex workers is critical for countries with low-level or concentrated HIV epidemics, and can help in monitoring the response to the HIV epidemic in countries with a generalized epidemic. Sex workers are a vulnerable population, and particular attention needs to be paid to human rights issues including consent, confidentiality and stigma. Collaborations with key players in the local sex work scene--sex workers themselves in the first place--and alliances with salient institutions and groups are key to the success of surveillance among sex workers. Surveillance activities should have a strong link to interventions targeted at sex workers. Surveillance for HIV infection among sex workers can be institution- or community-based. Institutional settings include screening programs for registered sex workers, of sexually transmitted diseases clinics, and re-education camps. Specific sources of bias need to be considered in different settings, and must be measured--through the collection of socio-demographic and behavioral data--to allow a correct interpretation of prevalence data and time trends. Community-based HIV infection surveillance can be conducted in a probability sample of the sex worker population, thereby reducing selection bias. This requires the mapping of sex workers' contact venues, and drawing a random sample from the resulting sampling frame.

Chronic posttraumatic stress disorder in Vietnamese refugees. A prospective community study of prevalence, course, psychopathology, and stressors.

A community cohort of 145 Vietnamese boat refugees in Norway was prospectively studied for presence of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after resettlement. Ten percent had PTSD on arrival and/or after 3 years. This group had been exposed to significantly more traumatic stress before their escape (e.g., reeducation camps, combat, and other war incidents) and had more psychopathology (SCL-90-R Global Assessment Scale) after resettlement. A logistic regression analysis indicated that different types of traumatic stress had an independent relationship with chronic PTSD. Nine SCL-90-R items discriminated between the PTSD group and the rest both on arrival and follow-up. These were not anxiety items, but related to interpersonal sensitivity, somatization, and aggression. The inclusion of additional diagnostic features in the criteria for chronic PTSD is indicated.

Vietnam - Lost Years: My 1,632 Days in Vietnamese Reeducation Camp. By Tran Tri Vu. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California at Berkeley, 1988. Pp. xv, 381.

Vietnam - Lost Years: My 1,632 Days in Vietnamese Reeducation Camp. By Tran Tri Vu. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California at Berkeley, 1988. Pp. xv, 381. - Volume 21 Issue 2

Book reviews

Stephen G. Hall and Fred Atkinson, Oil and the British Economy. London, Croom Helm, 1983–208 pp. $12.95. Harvey B. Feigenbaum, The Politics of Public Enterprise: Oil and the French State. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1985. xvii + 194 pp. $US 33.00. H.W. Arndt, A Course Through Life: Memoirs of an Australian Economist. Canberra, National Centre for Development Studies, Australian National University, 1985. ix + 177 pp. $10.00. Alan Rix (ed.), Intermittent Diplomat: The Japan and Batavia Diaries of W. MacMahon Ball. Carlton, Melbourne University Press, 1988. $37.50. Benjamin Higgins, The Road Less Travelled. A Development Economist's Quest. Canberra, National Centre for Development Studies, Australian National University History of Development Studies 2, 1989. x + 204 pp. $20.00. Francis Stuart, Towards Coming of Age. A Foreign Service Odyssey. Brisbane, Griffith University Centre for the Study of Australian‐Asian Relations. Australians in Asia series no. 2, 1989. vi + 264 pp. $12.00. Edward L. Warner III and David A. Ochmanek, Next Moves: An Arms Control Agenda for the 1990's. Council on Foreign Relations, New York, 1989. xi + 163 pp. $US10.95. Malcolm Saunders and Ralph Summy, The Australian Peace Movement: A Short History. Canberra, Peace Research Centre, Australian National University, 1986. 78pp. $3.75. Malcolm Saunders, A Bibliography of Books, Articles and Theses on the History of the Australian Peace Movement. Canberra, Peace Research Centre, Australian National University, 1987. 115pp. $10.00. Robert O'Neill, Alliances and International Order. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988. No price given. Christine Jennett and Randal G. Steward (eds), Politics of the Future: The Role of Social Movements. Melbourne, Macmillan, 1989. xii + 471 pp. $69.95 (cloth), $34.95 (paper). John Ravenhill (ed.), No Longer an American Lake? Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 1989. ix + 226 pp. $17.95. Peter Dennis, Troubled Days of Peace. Mountbatten and South East Asia Command, 1945–46. Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1987. xi + 270pp. £40.00 (cloth), £13.95 (paper). Geoffrey M. White and Lamont Lindstrom (eds), Pacific Theater. Island Representations of World War II. Carlton, Melbourne University Press, 1990. xiv + 433 pp. $44.95. Rodney Tiffen, News and Power. Sydney Allen and Unwin, 1989. $19.95. Janet Hunt el al. One World or ... None: Making the Difference. Canberra, Australian Council for Overseas Aid, 1988. 58pp. $5.95. Tran Tri Vu, lost Years: My 1,632 Days in Vietnamese Reeducation Camps. Berkeley, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1988. xv + 381 pp. $US15.00. Richard J. Kessler, Rebellion and Repression in the Philippines. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1989. xii + 227 pp. $US25.00. Margaret Jolly and Martha MacIntyre (eds), Family and Gender in the Pacific: Domestic Contradictions and the Colonial Impact. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989. xiii + 296pp. $49.50. Frank G. Jarrett and Kym Anderson, Growth, Structural Change and Economic Policy in Papua New Guinea: Implications for Agriculture. Pacific Policy Paper No. 5. Canberra, National Centre for Development Studies, Australian National University. 1989. xx + 122pp. $20.00. Trevor W. Parfitt and Stephen P. Riley, The African Debt Crisis. London, Routledge, 1989. vii + 228 pp.

Choe — detained cartoonist: The Thieu government arrested the cartoonist as a ‘Communist agent’ in 1975; the Communist government considered him a ‘reactionary’ and have kept him in a re-education camp since 1976

Choe (real name Nguyen Hai Chi) was a leading political cartoonist in South Vietnam, whose work also appeared in Newsweek and the New York Times. He was arrested as a ‘Communist agent’ by the Thieu government during its last months in power. In April 1976, one year after the Vietnamese Communist take-over, Choe was arrested as a ‘reactionary and counter-revolutionary element’. He has since been held in a ‘re-education camp’ without charge or trial. In the following, Thuc-sinh (the pseudonym of a specialist in Vietnamese affairs) describes the circumstances of his arrests.

Interview with Duyen Anh

‘One of the ten most dangerous writers’ of South Vietnam describes his experiences since the Communist take-over in 1975 Duyen Anh (pen name of Vu Mong Long) was a well-known writer and journalist in South Vietnam. After the communist victory in April 1975 he was arrested and sent to jail, and later to ‘re-education camp’, together with many other writers, journalists, intellectuals and artists. Like most political prisoners in Vietnam, he was not charged and was never tried. On 2 September 1981, Duyen Anh was released. This was part of the government's policy of clemency, he was told. Duyen Anh, however, still believes it was due to international pressure from organisations such as Amnesty International and International PEN, which had taken up his case and those of many other Vietnamese writers. On 24 March 1983, Duyen Anh fled from Vietnam as a ‘boat person’, after having bribed some officials. Ten days later he landed in a refugee camp in Pulau Bidong, a small island off Malaysia's east coast. On 20 October 1983, he arrived in France and was allowed to stay. He has now joined a community of some thirty thousand Vietnamese refugees who have been granted political asylum by the French government since 1975. In early March, Lek Hor Tan interviewed him in Paris. For other articles on persecuted Vietnamese writers and journalists see Index 4 and 6/1978, 3/1982 and 3/1983.

Poems smuggled from Vietnam: An appeal, and 377 poems, from one who has spent 20 years in detention

A poignant cry for help from a Vietnamese writer who vanished shortly after he smuggled a collection of his poems out of the country According to an Amnesty International report published last year, the Vietnamese government admitted that up to 40,000 people had been detained in re-education camps in South Vietnam following the communist take-over in April 1975. Emigré groups, however, put the number of detainees much higher. None of the detainees is known to have been tried in a court of law and only a few are reported to have been released in recent years. In a reply to an Amnesty International Memorandum dated September 1980 on the legal procedure of detention, the Vietnamese government's explanation was that ‘re-education without judiciary condemnation is an extremely humanitarian system which is very advantageous to them [the prisoners], compared with the usual system of trials before a court’. Another explanation given by the authorities was that ‘in Vietnamese psychology the absence of judiciary condemnation spares the person concerned a tarnished judiciary record (casier judiciaire) which may adversely influence his whole life and that of his children, especially in matters related with his professional activities: for instance, an imprisoned curate cannot deliver sermons after his release. The regime in re-education camps differs from that in prisons, and the duration of his loss of freedom is also shorter’. As for North Vietnam, the number of political prisoners either in re-education camps or in prisons has never been made public. There are reports of many who have been detained since the fifties and the sixties. Nguyen Chi Thien is one of them. He is a poet and was first detained in 1959 for speaking against the authorities. He is reported to have spent the past twenty years of his life in various prison camps. In 1979 a collection of 377 of his poems (more than 4000 verses) was smuggled out of North Vietnam. In a covering letter, reproduced here, he implored the world outside to publicise the conditions in the prison camps that he experienced himself and described in his poems. Nguyen Chi Thien's present fate or whereabouts are unknown. The poems were first published in Tien Vong Tu Day Vuc, edited by Nguyen Huu∗∗∗ Hieu (7706 Random Run Lane, 102, Falls Church, VA.22042, USA). We would like to thank Mr Nguyen Huu Hieu for providing the English translation of some of the poems. We also publish here the text of Nguyen Chi Thien's letter and an official report on the Vietnamese government's policy of ‘cultural purification’ — see ‘Wiping out decadent culture’ by Tran Tho.

Wiping out decadent culture: A cultural commissar's official report on the progress of ‘purification’ in South Vietnam.

A Vietnamese ‘cultural commissar’ reports on the success achieved in destroying undesirable publications, films, and other ‘decadent cultural products’ One of the major tasks facing the Communist authorities after their victory in April 1975 over South Vietnam was how to deal with culture and the arts, which they classified as ‘neo-colonialist, decadent, pornographic and counter-revolutionary’. A programme of ‘purification of culture’ (thanh loc) was soon adopted. This included the classification of books and other publications in public and university libraries (see Index 4/1978). A significant number of publications and authors (Vietnamese and foreign alike) were confiscated and banned. Private cinemas and theatres were closed down. This was also true of private newspapers and publishing houses. And many writers were put in prison or re-education camps (see Index 6/1978). The programme of ‘purification of culture’ was later extended to private bookshops, teahouses, discos and private households. The following is the progress report of the programme by Tran Tho, a cultural commissar, published in Tap Chi Con San (communist magazine), the ideological organ of the Vietnamese Communist Party, in October 1981.